Episode 11 - The Eclipse (2)
11 January 2009
Review
Synopsis: Noah hunts down Sylar and slits his throat. Claire dies in hospital. Mohinder beats Flint up and heads to see Maya. But the eclipse ends and Mohinder flees once his scabs return. Matt finally convinces Daphne that she is a good person and she makes peace with her father. Peter, Nathan and the Haitian take down Samedi’s army and kill him. Nathan tells Peter he plans to help his Dad create an army of super powered people to save the world. Hiro reads all the 9th Wonders Comics and discovers the sadness that will befall him. The comic book guys talk him into continuing his journey and he jumps away. He arrives just in time to save Noah and Claire from a revived Sylar. Hiro and Claire jump back to the day that Noah adopted her. Meanwhile Sylar kills Elle.
The Good: As the season reaches the half way point we finally get some sense of where the stories are headed.
Nathan was one of my favourite characters in season one. He consistently showed a depth that others didn’t. He seemed to realise the burdens which powers would bring better than most. Now as a politician who had a somewhat religious experience (301), he sees things differently. He argues that he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t give others abilities and used those powers to bring peace and justice to the world. His use of the Sudan, Bosnia, Somalia and the Middle East as real examples is very effective at making his point. It’s one of those rare occasions when Heroes gets it right.
We know that Nathan is wrong. We don’t need to see the future to know that (as Peter did in 304). We know because of Ted Sprague, Stephen Canfield, Adam Monroe, Arthur Petrelli and Sylar that powers will inevitably fall into the wrong hands or just prove to be too destructive for the good of the world. Yet Nathan’s argument is tremendously strong. He has the tools to help people suffering and he wants to use it. If the show had focussed on this story all season this could be quite the Lord of the Rings moment for Nathan. He believes that if he can get hold of the ring he could do so much good for the world. He doesn’t see the impending disaster it will create.
Of course what Nathan is articulating is also the logical extension of having super powers. If you can save the world from disaster then why not save people from every type of suffering? It’s the type of discussion which can lend the show a sense of importance which it should have but hasn’t earned.
It would make Arthur seem even more appealing as a villain if he articulated Nathan’s point as well. But he does a good job as a manipulator when he points out to Mohinder that it wasn’t his powers (but Mohinder’s own violent anger) which made him brutalise Flint.
Hiro too has his fine moments here. I particularly enjoyed the joke where he offers to pay for all the 9th Wonders Comics with his credit card, then sneakily grabs a copy of the Hulk and says “This one too please.” But he then sees the death of his father in the comics and runs away to hide. As a ten year old might do. Seth Green and Breckin Meyer do a decent job as fan boys reminding Hiro that he gives everyone hope that they too can make a difference (see The Bad though). Despite the flaws in these scenes Hiro has remained a selfless and lovable character throughout the whole of Heroes. So he is the only character who get away with cheesy hero rhetoric firing him up. Instead of being a lame plot device it’s a fitting moment when he swoops in to save the day and sums up Sylar neatly as he takes him away – “Bad man.”
Daphne’s remorse over her stealing and lying completes her rehabilitation and turns her into a fully fledged good guy. That’s fine, her story played out logically enough and I’m sure she and Matt will make a cute couple. Claire having no antibodies in her system (because she has never been ill) is a really nice touch. We know she won’t die but her crying shows a nice sense of the pain and confusion she is going through. The story of Isaac’s sketch book becoming an urban legend is a really impressive bit of continuity. It had seemed like a throwaway moment all the way back in 119.
Sylar has a mixed episode but there is much to like. His decision to save Elle and fight Noah himself appeared to be his selfless redemptive moment. Again there seemed no chance he would stay dead but it was still a sacrifice he made not knowing his powers would return. Set free from his powers he seemed to show that his intellect is not just a result of his abilities when he messes with Noah’s mind a little as they fight. But as should happen Noah takes murderous revenge on him and slits his throat. If Heroes hadn’t made it so clear that the powers were coming back (because the whole show is built around powers and not characters), then this could have been a huge moment. As it is it is a nice visual, complimented by the panic in Noah’s voice when Claire tells him she came back from the dead. Finally there is something horrifically creepy about the sexual undertones of how Sylar pins Elle down and kills her.
Maybe seeing how much Noah has given up for her will stop Claire whining about him always leaving.
The Bad: The usual logic holes are way too large. Noah has Elle and Sylar in his sights as they make out. The next scene they are post-coital on the floor and he misses them with a sniper rifle. So we must assume that Noah is a giant perve and waited for them to finish before shooting. And a bad gun man because they were lying still, so how did he miss?
Then having selflessly given his life for Elle, Sylar snaps and kills her. The logic of the story seems to be that once Noah tells him that he isn’t a Petrelli, he no longer wants to be a good guy. The thought that he has been manipulated and that no one believed in him all along are enough to turn him back into a murdering psychopath. It sounds vaguely plausible even if it is as rushed as usual. The problem is he was about to kill Noah and so it’s just as likely Noah was lying about it to mess with him. So Sylar goes back on all his rehabilitation just because he suspects that the Petrelli’s were lying to him. It’s a flimsy and far too swift change of events. It also seems unnecessary to cut Elle’s head open. Perhaps he wanted to see how the electricity worked rather than rely on his empathy though. It’s a sad end for her but guest stars are expendable of course.
The whole comic book store idea is about as masturbatory as television can get. The idea that real people would meet the stars of their comics and help them save the world is a fan boy’s daydream come to life. But it’s about as ridiculous a story as could be told. If Spider-Man walked into your store and crawled up the walls I think you would tell someone and be freaked out. Their real reactions of deep scepticism or shock would of course not help the plot. But then I ask why write it in. The fact that most viewers will know Seth Green and Breckin Meyer from so many other shows and movies takes you even further from reality.
When did Peter learn to use a rifle?
The Unknown: What’s the deal with eclipses then?
Best Moment: Sylar sends Elle down in the elevator alone so that she won’t get hurt. He fights Noah alone and for once we get a real, logical fight scene. Then Noah grabs a knife and says “Well Gabriel, you always wanted to be special. Look at you now. You’re nobody!” and slits his throat.
Epilogue: Finally we have a sense of where the characters stand and what they stand for. If the second half of the season focuses on that it could be half decent to watch. Despite its flaws there is some decent television in this episode.
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